Buck your toe to a good story

The Secret to Writing a story that sells

Stephen Stanberry
August 21st, 2025

friend, when I was 9 years old I was out in the yard kicking a football around (you might call it a soccer ball).

Missed the ball.
Smashed my big toe.
Nail ripped clean off.

“Hottest” pain I’d ever felt. I limped for weeks. Every step reminded me of it.

And here’s what I noticed.
Everyone who saw me hobbling asked the same thing:
“What happened to your toe?”

That limp told a story before I even opened my mouth.

Here’s the secret to writing a story that sells.

Pain makes a story stick.
Sticky stories create memory.
Memory builds trust.
And trust is what drives the sale.

Pain → Memory → Trust → Sale.

That’s the chain most people miss.

Instead, they write safe, painless stories.
Sound fine.
Go nowhere.
No pain. No memory. No trust. No sale.

So here’s my advice. Stop sanding down the edges. Stop picking the safe version. Tell the one that still stings a little when you say it out loud.

That’s the story people lean in for. That’s the one they’ll remember. That’s the one that sells.

And if you’ve no clue how to do it without bleeding all over the page, that’s exactly why I put together my Storytelling Guide.

It shows you how to pull the raw stuff out of your life and use it to build trust and sales.

Because painless stories die quiet.
And so do the businesses built on them.

Your choice.

Stephen

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